What are soft skills?

‍They’re basically all the non-technical skills that describe your approach to work and allow you to interact well with others. They’re needed for pretty much any and every job out there. Even if you don’t have any practical work experience, you’ll have soft skills you can include on your CV, cover letter and talk about in a job interview.

How to add soft skills to your job application

‍Don’t just say you have a particular skill — show situations in which you’ve used them. The great thing about soft skills is that you develop them in loads of aspects of life — not just work! You might have even used soft skills without even realising.

Here’s our guide to four employer faves…

Adaptability

‍A report by LinkedIn last month named adaptability the most in demand skill right now. And with all the constant changes happening in the world, you’ve gotta be prepared for unexpected stuff happening in your job.

It means:
Learning from failure
Having an optimistic mindset
Coming up with creative solutions
Being willing to learn

Communication
‍
Sure, this is an obvious one, but communication skills can always be improved! This is the kind of skill you develop in anything from school projects and part-time work to daily conversations with friends.

It means:

Listening well
Being clear and concise
Attentiveness
Asking questions

Analytical thinking
‍This one is a bit less obvious. Analytical skills overlap a little with adaptability — you have to be able to collect, organise and look at information with a critical eye to help make decisions. That’s not just data — it could be images, how a space is laid out or things customers, coworkers or clients say to you.

It means:
Learning from research
Being able to understand new info
Spotting trends or patterns